Barrow County prosecutors say father “could have prevented” Apalachee school shooting

Barrow County prosecutors told jurors in closing arguments that Colin Gray “could have prevented” the Sept. 4, 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, arguing he gave his 14-year-old son the rifle used in a 41-second attack that killed two students and two teachers and wounded others.

Assistant District Attorney Patricia Brooks framed the case as one of clear warning signs and missed intervention. “After seeing sign after sign of his son’s deteriorating mental state, his violence, his school shooter obsession, the defendant had sufficient warning that his son was a bomb just waiting to go off,” Brooks said in closing, later adding, “And instead of disarming him, he gave him the detonator.” In CNN courtroom coverage, Brooks urged jurors to find that the father’s conduct amounted to a “conscious disregard for a substantial and unjustifiable risk” and called it “criminal negligence,” saying, “That man was the one person who could have prevented this mass shooting. He was the one man who ensured that Colt Gray had the tools he needed to commit mass murder. That man and his son are both responsible for the immense suffering that occurred on September 4. The blood is on their hands.”

The defense disputed that the father had the requisite knowledge or criminal intent. Lead defense lawyer Jimmy Berry said the decisive factual question was what Colin Gray knew. “That’s real important because that really is the key to this case, is what did he know?… Did he know that Colt would do this?” Berry told jurors, and during closing held up a photograph of the accused shooter, saying, “this is the person who went into the high school and shot and killed four people he didn’t even know and injured scores of others.” He added, “This is the person who needs to be punished. He made a conscious decision to do this, a secretive decision.”

Prosecutors showed jurors photos and video from the day: teachers and students closing classroom doors, wounded teenagers being comforted and surveillance video of the shooter’s movements inside the school. The courtroom presentations stressed the brevity and damage of the episode — 41 seconds of gunfire that prosecutors said “forever altered” lives in the community.

Court filings and reporting list differing tallies of the injured. CNN reported nine people wounded; Associated Press and local outlets described “several” or “many” others wounded. All sources agree on four fatalities. The weapon used has also been described variably in coverage: CNN called it an “AR-15-style rifle,” while AP and local reporting said the rifle was given to the son as a Christmas present by his father.

Colin Gray faces 29 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of involuntary manslaughter; he has pleaded not guilty. His son, Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, faces 55 counts, including murder in the deaths of four people and 25 counts of aggravated assault.

The defense called Colin Gray to testify; AP reported he said he never considered his son capable of carrying out the attack and that he had given the rifle as a Christmas present “in hopes of bonding with the boy over hunting and outings at the gun range.” Witnesses, including the boy’s mother, Marcee Gray, testified she urged her husband to lock up the guns; she was not charged. Testimony also described the gun being kept in the son’s bedroom in the days before the shooting and what prosecutors called a “shrine” to a Florida school shooter near the boy’s computer.

The trial began in mid-February, with photo captions noting the first day of proceedings on Feb. 16 and the father’s testimony Feb. 27. CNN described the proceeding as a two-week trial and reported that jurors were expected to begin deliberations the morning after closing arguments. The case is one of several nationwide prosecutions examining parental responsibility after fatal school shootings.